For the last four legislative sessions, THSC has been pushing to protect parental rights that are continually under assault through a loophole in the Texas Family Code. A statute in this code currently includes a loophole that allows the mother-in-law or father-in-law of a single parent to remove the grandchildren from the single parent without cause.

This statute, called the Grandparent Access Statute, allows a judge to issue a temporary order to remove the children from a single-parent home. All the grandparents must do is claim that the parent is denying them access, and that the denial of that access will significantly impair the child’s development. The judge can then grant access to the grandparent for an undefined period with a temporary order, and completely remove the child from the home. Without effective standards of procedure and no requirement that evidence be adequately presented to support the grandparent’s claim, the judiciary wields enormous power with little oversight. The grandparents, with the cooperation of the judge, can run an endless legal battle for possession of the child against the parent without ever having to demonstrate that the parent is unfit to raise his or her own child.

This undermines the protection of parents in our legal system. It allows for drastic action–removal of children from the home–without evidence of abuse or neglect.The loophole in the law allows wealthy grandparents and/or rogue judges to exploit the legal system, crush parental rights, and rip families apart.

Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to direct the care, control and upbringing of their children. This right is foundational to home schooling freedoms, and is central to the mission of the Texas Home School Coalition. Parental rights are continually under assault, and judges abuse their authority far too often.

The Texas Home School Coalition is fighting to Keep Texas Families Free at the Capitol in Austin, and we are asking for your support! Representative Cindy Burkett and Senator Donna Campbell have filed the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act, and the THSC Watchmen are rallying citizen activists who are willing to defend freedom.

What can you do?

Sign the petition to help spread awareness and support the rights of Texas parents in the courtroom. Your support is crucial to the passage of this bill. United, we can protect Texas families and maintain the rule of law in Texas.

Contact us if you have ever been a victim of a situation like this. You could be able to share your testimony at the committee hearing for the bill.

Come to Capital Days on March 12, where we will be teaching supporters about the TPRRA, so that they can lobby the Texas Legislature to support the bill.

If you are a Texas home school family, consider joining THSC to support the Coalition today.

]]>http://www.thsc.org/2015/03/loophole-allows-drastic-removal-of-children-18979/feed/0Jim Loosehttp://www.thsc.org/2012/08/jim-loose/
http://www.thsc.org/2012/08/jim-loose/#respondTue, 14 Aug 2012 19:01:13 +0000http://thsc.org/?p=1696In October of 2007, just days after his wife’s death, Jim Loose heard an unexpected knock at his front door. When he opened the door, a process server was standing there, ready to serve him with legal papers initiated by his late wife’s father, who alleged one thing—and one thing only—that Jim was not going to allow his daughter to attend her own mother’s funeral.

A Fort Worth judge issued “temporary orders” against this father, calling for the removal of his daughter under this so-called “temporary” arrangement.

Jim Loose endured the unbelievably painful process of having to say goodbye to his scared little girl as three armed police officers responded to the orders of this biased judge to remove her from her home and the arms of her loving father. From that point forward, Jim fought hard to regain his parental rights that had been so quickly snatched from him.

He continued through the legal process, representing himself, jumping through the high hoops that were set, all while the grandparents, their attorneys, and this biased judge stomped all over his rights as a parent by attempting to drag this case out for two years, to the point where this fit father was at the end of his rope—physically, emotionally, and financially to the point of bankruptcy.

He found himself in a losing battle. To quote Mr. Loose, it was at this point that “the Texas Home School Coalition kind of came riding in, as I was about out of bullets, and hired a couple of attorneys who performed heroically.” THSC was instrumental in righting the wrongs in this case and receiving a successful outcome, and we could not have done it without the generous giving of THSC members and supporters, both through their prayers and their pocketbooks.

After many delays and abuses of law, the case of this fit father was finally out of the hands of an abusive judge and into the hands of a jury of 12 non-partial peers. What followed was nine days of trial testimony and deliberation and finally a unanimous jury decision to, after three long years of separation, rightfully reunite this father with his daughter.

This is not the only case of its kind. As this one is hopefully coming to a close, another has already popped up on our radar, and we have joined with another member family to protect their rights against grandparent accusations and judicial injustice.